Saikai - Reunited A No 6 FanFiction
by bourne-fiction
Summary: Find out what happens when Nezumi returns Let's just say that things don't always have happy beginnings, middles, or ends.
1. The Truth Hurts

The Truth Hurts

~Shion~

Even after two years of being missing, I couldn't bring myself to imagine a future where Rat didn't come back. My stomach gets sick every time I think of it. No matter what Dogkeeper or Rikiga told me, no matter how many times my mom had begged me to move on, or how many nights I was left alone to sleep without him, my heart knew Nezumi would come back and save me. I just knew it.

. . .

I was sitting in our old basement. The one that Nezumi and I shared for the short while we were together. Not a single book was out of place - each page greeted me when I walked in and sat on the old piano bench. Even the creak the bench made as I sad down sounded familiar - and comforting. Just sitting in the bench alone made my stomach turn with feelings of anticipation. I was always ready for Nezumi to walk back through the door and give me one of his cheesy-confident smiles. Just sitting in the basement by myself made me remember the times that Nezumi and I danced through the room - almost stepping on Hamlet, or knocking the boiling pot of soup over.

I felt a tear slowly escape from the corner of my eye. "Never change, Shion" Nezumi had always told me. The tear burned my face, because that was a promise I made to him - I would never change. I shook my head as another tear slid down my cheek - this time, the tear was followed by a smile.

Not a smile of happiness, or a smile of excitement or gitty-ness, it was a smile of nervousness. A nervous if Nezumi never comes back? What if...He'd gone off and found someone better?

No. His kiss was not a goodbye kiss, I told myself. It was a promis of his return.

I bit my lip. There was no way Nezumi would leave me forever - he couldn't.

I got up from the piano bench, the wood sighed in relief. With the sleeve of my blue sweater, I wiped away the tears from my face. My eyes suddenly got heavier - too many memories, too many feelings in such a short period of time.

It's not like Mom will miss me too much . . .

I made my way over to the bed - the navy blankets were ruffled and still looked like the way we had left them two years ago. I layed my head on the pillow, my face aimed toward the wall - all too familiar. I felt myself slowly fall into unconsciousness.

The smell of Nezumi flooded my senses; it made me dizzy and my hands anticipated to feel his hold mine. I closed my eyes and his deep blue ones seared into my soul.

More tears escaped from my eyes, and my stomach slowly became emptier and emptier as I began to realize it was pointless. It was a pointless love. I shouldn't still love him even after two years. He left me, probably for some one else - a beautiful girl. I will never see him again.

"It's useles. Give up Shion..." I whispered to myself. More tears slid down my cheek, and my hands shook. I took a deep breath, and I was prepared to tell myself whatever I had to in order to forget Nezumi. To forget all of this pain of deciet, the pain of loss, the pain of love . . .

"Goodbye Nezumi..." I said. That's it. It was going to be my final farewell. I never wanted to see him again.

I felt my face get red. I couldn't keep torturing myself like this! As I layed in our bed . . . his bed, I shook my head and imagined myself without Nezumi. A world where I would no longer have to worry about him. Where he didnt have to worry and save my ass anymore. A world where he didn't have to babysit me like he always did . . .

My breathing became heavier and I felt myself get ... mad? Frustrated? Furious? Betrayed? No words could compete with what my heart was saying.

Just as I was ready to hit the delete button in my brain, just as I was ready and willing to give up Nezumi forever, I felt the floor's vibrations through the bed.

Footsteps. There were footsteps coming from behind me.

My eyes flew open and my body tensed. No one ever, EVER came here. After all the visits I'd had here by myself, not a single person came.

I heard my heartbeat in my ears, and I felt the pulses through my fingers. Sweat caked the palms of my hands and my head pounded.

Suddenly a hand and a voice stopped my heart.

A hand rested on my shoulder, and a mouth was next to my ear.

"Shion," Just his voice alone sent tears to my eyes.

Nezumi? "I-"

"I thought I told you to stay the same." His voice was soft, forgiving, loving . . .

. . .

The sound of my alarm peirced through this dream; shattering it like my fragile heart that Nezumi broke two years ago when he left.

I sighed.

Maybe Nezumi won't come back - It's all just a stupid, lucid dream where love can't win.


	2. Speechless

Speechless

~Nezumi~

Two years. Two years gone, without Dogkeeper, without Rikiga . . . without Shion.

. . .

I kicked the rubble at my feet in an attempt to form the right words. How was I ever going to apologize to Shion? To explain to him why I had to leave?

The truth was, I was scared. After everything with Safu and Eleurius, I didn't know how I could face Shion again. I had turned him into a monster. Someone with blood on his hands, and more than enough grief in his heart. How could I ever look into his face again, knowing that I'd only be hurting him worse?

I sat on the top of the broken wall which over looked No. 6. Nothing has changed besides more debris and shit to clean up after.

"It's all the damn same." I said outloud. Same. This made me think of Shion. My heart beated faster for some damn reason, and I longed to see Shion again. To look in his face and see the same Shion as three years ago when we lived together underground outside of No. 6. The same Shion that whined when I refused to tell him where I was ever going, and the same Shion who ...

made me fall in love for the first time.

~Shion~

I sat up in a daze. The dream that I had left me with sweat staining my shirt, and my white hair matted to my face. My shoulder still burned where Nezumi had touched me, and my heart still ached to see him again.

For the past two years, it had always been like this. I always woke up in sweat, sometimes in tears too, just to find an empty room where Nezumi was gone, and I was alone. Being alone and loney are to different things. When I used to live outside the walls with Nezumi, I was alone alot of the time, while he was out doing his business. But now that he's really gone, and I can't prove that he's coming back for me, I'm lonely. I'm constantly on the verge of tears, and I ...

hate it.

I hate what Nezumi had done to me. I wished he would at least give me some kind of closure. A goodbye note, a real goodbye kiss ... an obituary stub from after he died...

I barely made it to the bathroom before I threw up. Just thinking of Nezumi being permanently gone made my stomach turn and my eyes water.

"Shion hun; time to get up!" It was my mom. Even after all that we've been through, she's been able to keep her bakery.

I've asked her before why she keeps baking, even though we get barely any costomers (less than your fingers counted) and she always tells me that if she could make even one person happy with her baking, then she'll never quit.

That's why I admire her. She never gives up on something important.

"Coming Mom!" I washed my face with our towel in the bathroom, and quickly put on a clean(er) pair of pants, and a new shirt under my blue sweater. I would never take off my sweater...

It still smelled of Nezumi.

I walked downstairs to the parlor and my mom greeted me with one of her amazing smiles. I honestly couldn't imagine anyone being as happy as she was.

"Today's going to be a busy day. I can feel it." My mom always liked to be optimistic.

"Yes ma'am." I replied as I washed my hands behind the counter and put on my ivory apron.

~Nezumi~

I wiped away the sneaky tear that somehow found it's way from my tear-duct, and stood up from where I stood on the wall.

My heart raced and I felt the beating in my chest grow stronger and stronger as I imagined what I'd say to Shion.

From my spot on the wall, the bakery was clear in sight. It wouldn't be surprising if Karan (Shion's mom) had seen me at some point up there.

My hands were shaking and I chewed the inside of my lip. I felt my eyebrows furrow as adrenaline coursed through my veins.

"Grow a pair Rat. Just go and see him." I cursed myself.

I nodded my head, and the decision was mine. I was going to go down to the bakery. I was going to see Shion, and I would kiss him. It would be an apologetic kiss this time. It would fully reunite us together. Yes.

I blinked away a final tear (...the hell?) and made my way down the wall to the part where No.6 met the out lands.

The only thing then that stood between Shion and me, was No.6's destroyed remains ... and my nerves.

~Shion~

"Thanks for coming! Please come again soon Mr. Haji!" Mr. Haji was my old grade-school teacher. It was amazing how normal it felt, selling him a piece of bread and a muffin.

For a second there, it had felt like the old times. Before the wall broke, before the white hair, before the parasitic bees, before Nezumi.

I shook my head. No thank-you. Pastries sold with a sad heart will taste tart. Gotta love my mom's sayings. I refuse to let Nezumi's absence bring me down.

Whenever his face flashes in my memory, or something reminds me of him, my heart feels like he's grabbing it with an iron grip...and he keeps squeezing until it'll stop beating.

Maybe that's why I kept wearing the blue sweater with his smell on it. It was punishment for me. His memory hurts me, because I broke my promise to him. I changed. I felt it in my heart. I broke our promise.

I was holding a hand towel at the time when I allowed another tear to slide its way down my cheek. "What the heck-?" I rubbed the towel on my face, hoping to get rid of the red lava that was filling my cheeks.

My face was still buried in the towel when an unusual sound echoed in the bakery. Footsteps.

Each step was slow. Each step was accompanied with a skidding sounds that rang in my ears. I felt the lava seep from my eyes. My tears were soaking the towel I had in my hands when I realized the pain that was joined with the footsteps.

The steps sounded like Nezumi's.

~Nezumi~

I stood outside the bakery. My boots felt as though they were filled with iron, and my stomach filled with concrete.

I reached out and held the door handle in my hands. Memories of Shion and I flashed through my memory. I remembered when he first saved me from myself. I was ready to give up, when he saved me. I remember when I had him in a choke-hold on his bed,, and he simply laughed in amazement at my swiftness and how I had gotten his "pressure points." I remembered his mom's cooking, and how I was envious at how Shion lived without any cares, any worries, any fears or troubles...

I then remembered the night when I danced with him for the first time. He was surprisingly good at it, for a comforted little boy. A smile crossed my lips, and my hands stopped shaking when I remembered how at comfortable I felt in his arms, and him in mine . . .

I opened the door. A rush of cool air brushed passed my now flushed cheeks.

"Here goes nothing" I whispered to myself.

In four strides, Shion appeared in front of me. His frail body was somehow . . . weaker.

His head was buried in a kitchen towel, and his shoulders were shuddering. Oh my god Shion, what have I done to you?

Without hesitation, Shion lifted his head and looked at me. His red eyes pierced into my soul. It ripped apart my heart... I didn't know what to do.

~Shion~

My eyes met with his. His deep blue eyes looked panicked, frantic, and... like Nezumi's. The towel fell out of my hands as both my hands went to my mouth.

Butterflies in my stomach turned into the parasitic bees and I urged myself not to throw up. Nezumi's face looked at mine. There was literally no way, that I was going to believe that Nezumi was standing in front of me.

No. Freaking. Way.

~Nezumi~

Shion looked broken. I broke him.

He stood with his hands on his mouth, and his face grew pale. What had I done to him? My hands started shaking furiously again, and I didn't know how to keep my knees from trembling.

No matter how broken Shion looked, he still was Shion. His eyes were filled with the curiosity and fire that I'd left two years ago. He was wearing the same sweater too. Every aspect of him, even his smell made me happy again.

A smile formed on my lips. Damn, why was I letting him get to me like this again? He was making me feel like...like...

Two words broke the spell.

"Prove it." Shion demanded.

The softness and caring tone of his voice was faded, and he sounded . . . desperate. Why did he sound like this? What happened to you?

I was speechless.


	3. Reunited

Reunited

~Nezumi~

"Prove it." He said to me. My eyes widened. I felt all the blood drain from my face. As I stood there, in his mother's bakery, I felt Shion slowly dissapear. His eyes became savaged and lost. Desparate. It was like he didn't know I was me. He didn't know that he was himself.

After all we've gone through together, I was expecting a different welcoming committee. Perhaps, a smile from him? A laugh? One of his . . . kisses?

But no. He was questioning who I was! I was the man who saved his life. I was the man who had given up my life and freedom, to keep his unique and free.

I felt my eyes begin to water. I felt betrayed.

Why in the bloody hell would he need me to prove it? Did he doubt that I was actually going to come back? Of freaking course I was! Shion... how can you be so dumb?

Prove it? He wanted me to "prove it?"

I stepped forward. Determined to prove to Shion that I was there. In front of him. Determined to never leave him again.

This was a promis I was not willng to break.

~Shion~

Nezumi's face whitened as I told him to prove himself. I felt my stomach become more and more empty. I felt myself go numb. I wasn't allowed to get my hopes up like this again.

It was just like my dream all over again. The second I would finally realize that Nezumi has come back to save me, he'd dissapear and leave me.

I refused to be hurt by this again.

I held my breath and stared at Nezumi. His face slowly regained color as he stepped towards me. My body began to shake again. I was anticipating the moment when he'd dissapear.

~Nezumi~

I stepped forward. I was determined to fix Shion. I would not let him hurt himself anymore. Even though I was shaking, even though I couldn't feel the tips of my fingers due to the lack of bloodflow, I never broke eye contact with him.

~Shion~

He never looked away. That stupid boy didn't look away as he got closer and closer to me.

Each step he took toward me sent a wave of his smell. Each step towards me felt like a subtle victory, proving he's real, but then a defeat when I felt the rush of nausea because I knew he'd soon dissapear.

That's why I refuse to admit his presence. I refuse to allow myself to be hurt again - no matter how much I loved him, no matter how much I wanted him to hold me and tell me he'd never leave ...

~Nezumi~

"Shion," I grabbed his shuddering shoulders in both my hands. "Hey brat, it's me."

Shion flinched when I touched his shoulders. However, he didn't even recognize me when I said his name, or said that I was me. I felt my jaw drop.

~Shion~

His hands burned me. His arms on my shoulders burned worse than what it did in my dream. It burned more because, it was familiar.

It felt like when he touched me that night when I was captured by the government officials, and he had just helped me escape the car. When we were sitting in the work truck and I told him I found no more purpose to fight - he grabbed me with the same urgency then and told me that he had saved me for a reason, and I wasn't allowed to give up just yet.

In the present moment, Nezumi almost felt real.

~Nezumi~

There was nothing I could say, nothing I could possibly do to make him realize that I won't leave.

In my hands he felt so cold, almost lifeless. I knew time was running out before he competely leaves me.

I did the last thing I could possibly think of to make him understand.

~Shion~

Nezumi was real.

~Nezumi~

I leaned in, and kissed him. Not a soft, brush of the lips either. This was my last dying attempt to break Shion of this spell he was under - this curse that made him lose all of his hope in me.

I moved my sweating hands from his shoulders, and moved it to his head. I refused to let him go until he believed me.

Shion didn't move at first. It was like kissing a glass wall. A one-way mirror.

I started to panic.

~Shion~

He kissed me. Nezumi kissed me, and didn't disspear.

Even as he grabbed my head, and pressed his lips to mine, I couldn't unfreeze myself. I was still trying to thaw my way out of my fears of him dissapearing.

He tightened his grip, and pushed our faces closer together.

It was a memory that broke the spell on me.

As he kissed me, I remembered the time when we were still living underground and I had just found out Safu was taken. It was my goodbye kiss to him that reminded me of that moment.

Even if he didn't realize it at the time, he kissed me in a way that was both suprised, but also reassuring. He was so sure of his love for me, there was no hesitation. No fear. No guilt, and all the love in the world.

It's his unconditional love, that broke me from my trance.

Slowly, and stiffly I raised my hands.

~Nezumi~

It was over. Shion wasn't moving-I couldn't even imagine what I'd do without him. Why can't he just understand? I need him here with me.

With one more desparate attempt, I kissed him even harder. A tear escaped my eye and landed on his cheek with the salmon colored scar.

It ran down his cheek and landed on his blue sweater.

Suddenly I felt a pressure around my waist.

Without breaking the kiss, I wrapped my arms around Shion.

He did the same.

~Shion~

I wrapped my arms tightly around Nezumi. Desparately hoping he wasn't going to dissappear as soon as I did this.

My arms went around his waist, and in a simmilar motion, Nezumi moved his hands from my head, and he hugged me.

I felt his heartbeat on my chest. It was a very good feeling. He felt alive, and real. I felt the heat of the kiss on my lips, and he was slowly melting me. I was becoming me again.

I felt butterflies again in my stomach as we held eachother. His arms that were shaking at first became firm and hot as he held me close to him.

I felt his tears stain my sweater.

I felt his breath on my lips.

I felt him in my arms.

I pulled away from him.

~Nezummi~

My arms stopped shaking, and I felt Shion become alive again. As he wrapped his arms around me, his face became alive. It was no longer me kisisng a one way mirror, however, it was like I was kissing my bestfriend, the person I've loved for so many years.

He pulled away from me ever so slightly.

He brought his bright crimson eyes from my lips, to my nose, and finally to my eyes. His eyes made my heart melt. His eyes were sad, defeated, yet now they were excited, brighter, and he was looking at _me_. Finally.

"Nezumi. Don't leave me." I took in a sharp breath. His smell was like flowers, or old books. Both comforting and soothing.

"Never again Shion." I looked him in the eyes. I would not look away. I didn't look away. He didn't either.

~Shion~

My Nezumi was there. In my arms.

"I love you, Nezumi." He told me he wasn't going to leave, and I believed him. He was the man I loved. The man I've fought for and protected (though he's been really my protector). I loved him so much, it hurt.

~Nezumi~

My face flooded with the lava again -

"I love you more, Shion." He looked at me, his bright red eyes peircing deep into me. "I will never, _ever_ hurt you again Shion. I promise on my life I will never leave you again. I will never be that selfish again."

My breathing was uneven. I began to shake again, because I knew this had all been my fault. I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't' have left him here alone to suffer.

I vowed I would never leave his side. I vowed that I would never leave him to hurt by himself again. I was stupid, and he was the one hurting. I'm going to make it up to him someday. Even if it kills me.

~Shion~

Then I kissed him.

~Nezumi~

And then he kissed me.


	4. Falling

*Note: Shion's father is introduced in this chapter. He's not ever mentioned in the anime, so he's an OC that I've added.*

~Shion

I heard the crack and felt the heat before I noticed the pain.

~Nezumi

I smoothed the book's yellow stained pages under my fingers as I stared out the cracked window of the library.

Ever since returning to No. 6's dead and decaying remains, the place where poison and corruption ran through it's veins, I haven't been able to get rid of the anxiety and nerves that flooded my bloodstream.

"E-excuse me? I need help finding a book…" A small, meek voice broke my trance.

Since reuniting with Shion, I've gotten a part time position helping at the library down the street from Karan's (Shion's mom's) bakery while he attended his first year at the local university.

"Sure, what do you need miss?" The small girl stood in front of the counter of the library.

The library itself wasn't anything fancy, but of course it offered the best relief and escape for people who needed it the most. After the wall had collapsed and everything was basically destroyed in No. 6, the local townspeople formed small community businesses such as the grade schools, the university, a hospital, some small general stores, and of course this library.

I considered their actions quite pitiful and and dearing and as such, I volunteered my time in such a place where it fits me best.

"Can you show me where I can find some cookbooks?" Pink flooded the girl's paled cheeks and she tightened her grasp on the mesenger bag she was holding.

"Of course." I closed the book on the counter and started my way over to the section where we kept the self help books and cooking recipes.

This is one of the reasons I loved libraries. Especially ones where the books are so old you can practically feel the touch of the hand of the person who read it before you did.

After I had gotten the little girl her book and successfully checked her out, I walked her to her bicycle and watched as she pedaled away.

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as she disappeared into the horizon. Nothing ever felt quite normal, or _safe_.

~Shion

I heard my mother's cries, her sobs, her pleads for him to stop. He never did. I saw my blood on the floor and tears streaming down her face. I was lucky - I was numb from the pain.

Every blow to my face caused my body to shudder under the impact. Once in a while I'd feel my head hit the wall behind me. There was a hole where my head hit for the first time.

"David stop! You're gonna kill him-" I could no longer open my eyes, they were practically swollen shut. At that point I was grateful I couldn't see what was going on. I don't think I could handle looking my mom in the face,. It was my fault my dad was angry. It was my fault we're living like this. Always my fault.

*smash*

~Nezumi

Shakespeare once said, "I hold the part in my hand as the world; A stage where every man must play a part. And mine is a sad one."

I used to think about this a lot. I couldn't understand why someone would fully accept a terrible life if they had the opportunity to change it. If the world is a stage, and each man must play their part, then does that mean we are destined to perform such actions? Are we destined to live a life predetermined by some being who has no idea who we are as people?

~Shion

Sometimes my dad gets mad.

He held his own seat on No. 6's governmental panel to rebuild No. 6. As such, he rarely finds time to come home. When he does, I've found that my place was hiding in my room, reading,spending time with Nezumi, and at the will of his ill-tempered personality. Of course, never would I ever let Nezumi know about what kind of man he is, or what he puts me and my mom through. Of course I knew this was extremely selfish, but it was for his own good. I knew Nezumi has more to worry about than just me. It was my place in life, not his.

As I sat on the tiled floor of the bakery, blood dripping from my newly broken nose, I began to realize that this was the hardest he's ever hit me before.

… "Nezumi…"

~Nezumi

It was practically nighttime by the time I left the library. I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder, filled with different books from Keats to Shakespeare, and headed down the road to where the University's driveway met the road.

There's a great big archway left over from where an old church was built that served as the entrance to the school's campus. Plagued with moss and broken cobblestone, the arch made a perfect barrier between the normal comfort of school and the remainder of the shit-hole life that people are now forced to live in. Shion usually meets me there on my way home and we'd walk together. That's where we part in the morning when we walk - he goes to school while I go to the library.

I guess what set me off edge this morning was though, he didn't wait for me to leave. He left before I did, and never told me he was going. After saying goodbye to Karran, he left; never looking at me once. It made me sick thinking about it.

_But _: Shion sometimes gets this way. Usually he tells me it's stress, or something important happening at school. Usually he tries to comfort me by assuring me we'd walk home together even though we wouldn't walk to school.

He didn't say anything to me this morning.

I suddenly felt an extreme wave of panic when I stood outside the school by myself. I stopped in front of the driveway and took a sharp breath in.

Shion's backpack was laying, by itself, against the cold stone arch. No Shion; just his backpack.

A stabbing pain flooded my vision as I set off full-sprint towards the bakery.

~Shion

I guess my father blames me for the collapse of No. 6. I guess he thinks that it's my fault that most of the citizens of No. 6 are now living in poverty and rebellion. I understand why. This is also why I vowed Nezumi shall never meet this monster.

My head, throbbing, my hands shaking, and my sudden wave of nausea were my saving graces. It means my father had stopped. It means that I can now bear the full consequences of his actions again, alone.

I sat in my bathtub. Water ran through my hair, down my back, over my body. The hot water practically melted my skin. It looked like it too.

I always was fascinated how easily breakable humans were. One simple hit to the face, and you could possibly never breathe through your nose again. One parasitic bee, and you turn into a corpse, or an albino, frightful little child.

I smiled to myself as a tear slid from my eye into a constant stream of blood and water..

Yes ~ definitely fascinating.

~Nezumi

If I could rip out my eyeballs, throw them into a boiling pot of water, then drink a gallon of bleach, I still wouldn't feel clean.

Karan's bakery horrified me.

As I opened the front door, none too gentle I may add, the stench of iron, and of blood flooded my senses.

The "closed sign" cried in protest as it fell to the ground.

Puddles of blood scattered the tile floor, and there was an obscene hole in the wall behind an overturned table.

I felt my insides burn, I felt the acid in my stomach and I felt the heat within my veins each time my heart pumped blood. Crimson rivers ran over an overturned chair, and there was broken glass shattered on the ground.

"Oh my god Shion, what the fu-"

My fingers twitched as I tried to imagine what happened.

The bakery felt _empty and dead_ inside.

I was half expecting to see Karan and Shion together, and yet the other (much more silent) half of me expected to see them missing ~ never did I ever think that I'd feel this worried before.

"S-Shion!?" I frantically shouted. "What the hell - Karan?!" I staggered around the yellowed booths in the bakery to the back where a staircase was hidden. Behind a closet door was a staircase leading upstairs to where Karan and Shion technically live.

My hand shook as my vision slowly and painfully adjusted to the flourescent lights in the hallway. One step at a time I made my way up the staircase - sure that Shion nor his mother were downstairs.

I was at the third wooden step when more splatters of blood mockingly glared at me.

"What did they do to you -" The back of my throat closed when I made it to the top of the stairs.

One look to the left showed an empty hallway leading to a dead end. One look to the right however turned my stomach because at the end of it, a door was shut and yet seemed alive. White clouds of steam creeped their way out from where the old carpet met the bottom of the wooden door.

It was their bathroom.

My mind had completely shut down when I saw the trail of red leading to the base of the door.

"Shion!-" I half screamed half whispered as I ran to the end of the hallway. My sneakers squished in the carpet and suddenly my senses came alive. The same iron scent assaulted my nose, and the smell of soap barely made it better.

Without thinking, or breathing for that matter I slammed open the bathroom door with all the energy I had left.

~Shion

There was so much blood. Too much blood.

The water felt like pins and needles.

I couldn't tell if I was sitting or laying down.

I felt like I was floating.

~Nezumi

"Shit . . ."

I've never seen so much blood in my life - and I grew up in goddam West Block for frig's sake.

Steam poured from around the boy who sat in the bathtub. The steam was practically a pink color. Shion's body was hunched over in the shower.

His back had scratches all over it - his pure virgin skin was littered with monstrosities. Old and new scars pulsed under the flow of the shower. His white hair was now a darker grey color and matted to the sides of his hair with blood as glue.

I stood in the doorway for a good ten seconds - too scared to look, to frightened to move, to sad to breathe.

As I watched Shion's body in the tub, I noticed the slow, sudden nodding his head began to do. His head began to tilt forward.

I blinked.

Before I knew what had happened next, Shion had fallen forward and I had made it just in time to stop his head from hitting the spout of the bathtub.

~Shion

I felt like I was getting heavier. Like the feeling you get when your really tired and you want to sleep so your eyes suddenly close themselves. I felt myself falling.

~Nezumi

Shion's head lay in my left arm as I used my right one to turn the water off. I felt his heat through my leather jacket - he was burning hot. Sweat began to form on my forehead when I gently took Shion in my arms.

I stood up. His body laid limp in my arms.

I was able to look at his face for the first time- _his _face? It wasn't my Shion. There was no way his energetic, and happy eyes were able to be hidden so well behind the swollen parts of his face and cheek.

I felt myself begin to feel nauseous and I knew I had to get Shion out of there.

Blood dripped from his watery cheek to my shoulder.

The white swirls of clouds slowly dissipated from the bathroom as I carried Shion into the next room over which coincidentally was his mom's.

As I placed him gently on the floral printed blanketed bed, I was careful not to touch any part of him that was visually injured.

Both arms had deep gashes, and his face, well...wasn't his face.

I clenched my jaw in an attempt to keep in a scream. I was furious. Who would dare put a single finger on my Shion? Why would anyone? Never in my life have I ever met someone so nice, and pure as him - It was truly a demon who did this to him.

I grabbed the extra blankets from the chair that was next to the desk in the room, and I wrapped Shion in it.

The logical part of me knew I had to get him to the hospital - and the other part of me wanted to keep him safe, here, in front of me where I wouldn't let anything touch him again.

I slid off my soaking wet jacket and growled to myself.

Lucky? Sure, we'll say lucky. It was lucky that the hospital in the new Generation of No. 6 had a medical van - In between hurried actions of wiping Shion's face from the blood, and putting a shirt and some pants on his still comatosed body, I found a phone and was able to call for a medical van to come pick us up.

Every ounce of my body screamed in protest - my brain screamed "_why _you idiot _would you give him over to someone now that could do more harm than damage?" _

Shion's house was left in a lot worse shape than it was this morning - while waiting for help, I realized all the papers scattered on the floor of the bedroom, and I noticed holes in the wall, similar to the one downstairs in the bakery.

I paced back and forth while chewing on my finger nails.

I heard a knock on the bakery's door downstairs. It was the people from the hospital.

I bent over and kissed Shion on a clean part of his forehead - careful to to touch any of the bruising or swelling.

"It'll be okay Shion. I'm here - we'll be just fine."

~Shion

Falling into Nezumi's arms. Falling to somewhere I didn't know if I could escape.


	5. Awake

~Nezumi

A man once said, "There are... many types of monsters in this world: Monsters who will not show themselves and who cause trouble; monsters who abduct children; monsters who devour dreams; monsters who suck blood, and... monsters who always tell lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance. They are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat even though they've never experienced hunger. They study even though they have no interest in academics. They seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster" (L Lawliet).

I couldn't have put it so eloquently myself.

There aren't many things that I can say I regret. That would mean accepting parts of your past as mistakes. That would mean that your life would be a waste of time, a waste of oxygen. It would mean that you're weak; unable to separate yourself from the real and the fantasy. I refuse to be weak. The weak gets crushed.

Shion groaned.

I stood in the doorway of Shion's hospital room and leaned my head against the off-white door frame. My eyes were fixed on Shion. The delicate angle of his cheek and chin, the rosy color that appeared on his cheek next to the salmon colored snake that disappeared behind his satin hair.

"Listen hun, I'm sure your worried, but he'll be alright. Just let him sleep and well inform you when he wakes up-"

"Sorry. But I'm not leaving him."

There's only one thing I have ever regretted: and that was Shion.

Because our feelings, I vowed to Shion I'd keep him safe. I told him that I'd be there if he ever needed me. I broke that promise the second his father laid a hand on him.

I thought that when I left, he'd be safer and happier without me. I was wrong then too.

I walked over to Shion's still body on the bed. His body slowly conformed to the new shape of the bed as I sat down.

There were stitches under his left eye ~ on the other side of where his pink scar was. Bruises littered his cheek bones, and his hair held a pink tint at the tips from where the blood had stained him.

I raised one of my shaking hands and carefully pet his cheek.

"I am so sorry Shion."

His head tilted in the direction of my voice. His pale eyelids fluttered at the sound of my voice.

I sighed and ran my fingers through his hair; slowly brushing away the loose ends from his face.

His eyelids fluttered again under my touch ~ as my fingers passed over his cheek, I felt the hot warmth of a tear.

"Shion-?"

~Shion

It was my fault. It had always been my fault.

I was the one who dragged Nezumi into my life. It was my fault my father is angry and it was my fault my mom was a target of his evil.

I had always been selfish. I never wanted Nezumi to leave, yet I didn't tell him anything about me once he came back. I never told him about my father, or how much I truly depended on his company. How much I depended on his love.

I was selfish. I had dragged nezumi into this life, and yet I didn't tell him a single true thing about it.

My body tingled and burned and ached. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

I felt warmth on my face, like someone has pressed a warm cup of tea to my cheek. I tried to lean into the newly comforting warmth.

As I did, I heard his voice.

"Shion-" it was Nezumi. He was here. He was with me.

~Nezumi

Shion moaned - it sounded so sad, coming from such a fragile person in his state.

Nausea slowly crept it's way up my stomach and my face got hot. I wiped away Shion's tear and tried to talk to him.

"Hey!- it's alright, I'm here..."

I slowly caressed his soft cheek and his eyebrows twitch in unison with his fluttering eyelashes.

Shion let out a breathy groan again as I moved my fingers to his now shaking shoulders.

"Shion? - It's me, Nezumi."

I watched as Shion's breathing started to slowly increase. My hand, barely touching his shoulder felt the heat of his body.

"Oi, love? It's okay ... I'm here..."

Minutes felt like hours as Shion slowly gained consciousness. Was he in pain? Does he remember what happened? Am I making it worse?

"Nez-"

~Shion

I was hot. My body was on fire ~ my bones were being boiled and shredded at the same time.

There was one place though that didn't hurt as bad.

My shoulder was the only place that felt relief.

It was him.

"Nez-" I barely was able to speak ~ my throat was on fire.

~Nezumi

Shion's voice cracked. Barely able to speak, his voice came out like a whisper.

I inhaled a sharp breath and leaned closer to him.

The thin skin of his eyelids stopped fluttering and began to make a new movement. His eyes were opening.

"Shion, I'm right here."

Slowly, Shion opened his puffy eyes. His eyelashes framed two very depressing looking eyes. Both were bloodshot and swam in tears.

Nonetheless, they were Shion's. His red irises held the same shine I remembered.

He blinked a couple times and moved his head. Stiff and awkward, he attempted a smile.

"Hi-" he barely choked out.

"Hello there-"

I'm not sure when the last time I had felt that way was but let me tell you: it was both the worst and agonizing moments of my life. There was nothing I could do, except offer my support. I couldn't fix him, and I couldn't take away his pain.

I truly felt trapped.

~Shion

Nezumi. His eyes, bloodshed and filled with worry took away all the pain.

I was no longer scared. His hand in my shoulder, his eyes locked with mine, I couldn't have been happier.

As if by magic of pure will, my arms found their way around Nezumi's body.

I squeezed him until the pain disappeared.

~Nezumi

His heartbeat. My heartbeat. We were together again.

Shion (somehow) managed to wrap his arms around me.

What a strange boy his is.

I jumped as his arms grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me to him.

His head rested on my chest ~ his hair smelled like iron.

As much as my body screamed at me to hold Shion tight and never let go-I couldn't. He was till very injured and raw and u couldn't bring myself to put him in even more pain.

I let out a shaky laugh "Hello there my prince. Your kingdom missed you."

I rubbed my hand on his back, hoping to quiet his shaking body.

Shion let out a sigh and his arms fell to his side. His head still against my chest.

"I'm tired." He muttered.

"I would be surprised otherwise your highness. It seems that you tried to protect the land by yourself. A very noble act worthy of great praise."

I felt the heat from a sigh of his. His laugh sent goosebumps all over my body.

"Nezumi?" He croaked.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

~Shion

"I'm sorry."

I felt his lips press against my head as unconsciousness cloaked my vision again.

~Nezumi

"Me too."


End file.
